live from washington, this is bbc news. welcome to viewers on pbs in america. donald trump has demeaned the writer ejean carroll during a live television broadcast a day after a civil case found he had sexually abused and defamed her. us presidentjoe biden responded to the town hall hosted by cnn, asking voters "do you want four more years of that?" and republican congressman george santos pleads not guilty to 13 federal charges and says he'll run for re—election. democrats and even some republicans have called on him to resign. hello, i'm sumi somaskanda.

thank you forjoining us. a day after he was found liable by a new york jury for sexual abuse and defamation, donald trump has faced questions in a live town hall in the us state of new hampshire. the frontrunner for the 2024 republican nomination for the presidency demeaned his accuser, ejean carroll, reiterated his position the 2020 election was rigged, and if he returned to the white house, mr trump said would he pardon many of his supporters who have been jailed for taking part in the january 6 attack on the us capitol. just after the town hall, i spoke to hannah muldavin, who was the spokesperson for the house january 6 committee, and bryan lanza, who served as director of communications for mr trump's transition team. it is great to see you both. right off the bat i want to ask you what you thought about what you what you thought about what you saw. hannah, let's start with you. you saw. hannah, let's start with vow— you saw. hannah, let's start with ou. a , with you. as you said, why was the spokesperson _ with you. as you said, why was the spokesperson for _ with you. as you said, why was the spokesperson for the - with you. as you said, why was the spokesperson for the 6 - the spokesperson for the 6 january select committee where over a year and a half we interviewed over 1200

witnesses, hundreds of thousands of pages of documents, and we came to the conclusion that we should refer donald trump on four counts to the doj, two which were an insurrection and the second was conspiracy to make a false statement. and i think what you saw tonight, which is one of the first times we have heard from the former president since our investigation we showed our evidence to the american people, is that he is still lying. as you mentioned, he said, continuously, that the election was stolen and rigged and he repeated those claims. i had to take notes because there were a few things he said. he said 6january was an unbelievable and beautiful day, he said he would pardon 6 january writers, he said he doesn't know mike pence an apology, that mike pence should have returned some of the electoral votes to the states. this was only a few days after four proud boys were convicted by a federal court for seditious conspiracy, a charge thatis seditious conspiracy, a charge that is not lightly brought. so

i think when we look at what has happened today i'm nervous about our democracy if donald trump is re—elected. irate about our democracy if donald trump is re-elected._ trump is re-elected. we are auoin trump is re-elected. we are going to _ trump is re-elected. we are going to talk _ trump is re-elected. we are going to talk a _ trump is re-elected. we are going to talk a little - trump is re-elected. we are going to talk a little bit - trump is re-elected. we are | going to talk a little bit more about 6january, but i want to get bryan's take about this town hall. what did you think? i thought it was a win for the present, _ i thought it was a win for the present, he went for a platform nobody — present, he went for a platform nobody thought he would appear on, nobody thought he would appear on. i_ nobody thought he would appear on. i don't — nobody thought he would appear on, i don't think he had been on, i don't think he had been on cnn — on, i don't think he had been on cnn doing interview since 2016. — on cnn doing interview since 2016. he _ on cnn doing interview since 2016, he handled the host, the moderator relatively well, answer _ moderator relatively well, answer the questions, whether they— answer the questions, whether they are — answer the questions, whether they are factual or unnatural, he showed up and answered with and he _ he showed up and answered with and he is — he showed up and answered with and he is going to walk away with— and he is going to walk away with it — and he is going to walk away with it with the general view that— with it with the general view that he _ with it with the general view that he continues to be his own individual— that he continues to be his own individual man and he went into what _ individual man and he went into what was — individual man and he went into what was supposed to be a hostile _ what was supposed to be a hostile environment and he survived _ hostile environment and he survived stop i suspect this town— survived stop i suspect this town hall is going to make him stronger— town hall is going to make him stronger going forward. the town hall is going to make him stronger going forward.-

the former president was asked about his role in the january 6 attack. this is what he said: ido i do think podas care about 6 january anymore.— i do think podas care about 6 january anymore. you get the olls, it january anymore. you get the polls. it is — january anymore. you get the polls. it is a _ january anymore. you get the polls, it is a top _ january anymore. you get the polls, it is a top ten _ january anymore. you get the polls, it is a top ten issue. . january anymore. you get the polls, it is a top ten issue. i l polls, it is a top ten issue. i think— polls, it is a top ten issue. i think a _ polls, it is a top ten issue. i thinka certain polls, it is a top ten issue. i think a certain segment of voters. _ think a certain segment of voters, primarily democrat liberal _ voters, primarily democrat liberal voters talk about 6 january. _ liberal voters talk about 6 january, think the general conversation of this election is going _ conversation of this election is going to be the economy, it's europe, is energy security. listen, he is wrong about— security. listen, he is wrong about 6 _ security. listen, he is wrong about 6 january, security. listen, he is wrong about 6january, it security. listen, he is wrong about 6 january, it was an assault— about 6 january, it was an assault on the capitol, but i do point _ assault on the capitol, but i do point out that the four people _ do point out that the four people convicted of sedition 'ust people convicted of sedition just the _ people convicted of sedition just the other day were not charged _ just the other day were not charged with —— sedition in conspiracy with donald trump, everyone — conspiracy with donald trump, everyone who has been charged with these things he is not in co—ordination with any of these things — co—ordination with any of these things so _ co—ordination with any of these things. so there is obviously

sonre — things. so there is obviously some level of media overreaction to trump's action in 6 _ overreaction to trump's action in 6january that overreaction to trump's action in 6 january that doesn't come through — in 6 january that doesn't come throu~h. ., ., ., ,, in 6 january that doesn't come throuuh. ., ., ., y., ., through. hannah, do you agree that people _ through. hannah, do you agree that people have _ through. hannah, do you agree that people have forgotten - that people have forgotten essentially 6 january or who have moved past it? i essentially 6 january or who have moved past it?- essentially 6 january or who have moved past it? i think one ofthe have moved past it? i think one of the most _ have moved past it? i think one of the most important - have moved past it? i think one of the most important parts - have moved past it? i think one of the most important parts of. of the most important parts of our investigation and the witnesses we spoke to was they were mostly republicans. we had republicans talk to us, sarah matthews is one example, your playdate clip of president trump talking about how he said all these great things on the day and said to be peaceful, she actually left a job because she actually left a job because she didn't think he went far enough. it took him until 4:17pm to tell the rioters to go home. we talked to many writers who said they would have gone home and did exactly what donald trump told them. what happened on 6january was an atrocity to our country, the fact that he is still talking about there being a rigged election is dangerous to our

democracy and i think that we cannot let him get near that white house again. the town hall comes a day after the former president was found liable of sexual abuse and defamation in a case brought by writer ejean carroll in new york. he was asked about it: i'm not surprised. but don't think anyone would expect to say any different. take news is something that he coined. i think the american people are tired of this. this is one of many ways he is tied up in the courts right now. i'm not surprised because it is also consistent with the remarks he's made about women over the course of many years. i'm tired of this, the american people

are tired of it, and i don't think anyone is surprised at the remarks he makes tonight. bryan, what do you think, he got a lot of applause from the people in the crowd when he said you can't get a fair trial in washington, dc or in new york. , ., ., york. he is not wrong. the reality is — york. he is not wrong. the reality is our _ york. he is not wrong. the reality is ourjudicial - york. he is not wrong. the reality is ourjudicial court | reality is ourjudicial court system _ reality is ourjudicial court system has been corrupted by politics— system has been corrupted by politics for the last ten years and what _ politics for the last ten years and what you saw in manhattan, first of— and what you saw in manhattan, first of all. — and what you saw in manhattan, first of all, with the manhattan da stressing the law, stressing — manhattan da stressing the law, stressing to a fellow —— bellengerjudd trump, people bellenger judd trump, people saw bellengerjudd trump, people saw right through that. the judicial— saw right through that. the judicial system is becoming more — judicial system is becoming more and more partisan. in this case: _ more and more partisan. in this case, you — more and more partisan. in this case, you know, the laws were changed — case, you know, the laws were changed to give ms carroll the right— changed to give ms carroll the right to — changed to give ms carroll the right to sue president trump about— right to sue president trump about 30 _ right to sue president trump about 30 years ago. they litigated it, they will have a better— litigated it, they will have a better shot, but new york, it is 90%— better shot, but new york, it is 90% democrat, there is no way— is 90% democrat, there is no way a — is 90% democrat, there is no way a republican will ever get a fair— way a republican will ever get a fair trial— way a republican will ever get a fairtrial in way a republican will ever get a fair trial in manhattanjust like — a fair trial in manhattanjust like a — a fair trial in manhattanjust like a democrat is not going to

-et like a democrat is not going to get a _ like a democrat is not going to get a fair— like a democrat is not going to get a fair trial and some parts of texas, _ get a fair trial and some parts of texas, our politics has corrupted ourjudicial system corrupted our judicial system so bad — corrupted our judicial system so bad i_ corrupted ourjudicial system so bad i wouldn't be surprised if the — so bad i wouldn't be surprised if the attorney general of the florida — if the attorney general of the florida finds some way to indict _ florida finds some way to indict hunter biden for some of the activities he may or may not have _ the activities he may or may not have done in florida. that isjust— not have done in florida. that isjust where our not have done in florida. that is just where our politics not have done in florida. that isjust where our politics is hannah. _ isjust where our politics is hannah, want to get your on that. ~ ., ., ., that. we heard mention of hunter biden _ that. we heard mention of hunter biden and - that. we heard mention of hunter biden and today i that. we heard mention of. hunter biden and today one that. we heard mention of - hunter biden and today one of donald trump's maga republicans thatis donald trump's maga republicans that is now in the congress talked about investigations into hunter biden and what we have seen time and time again is that nothing about hunter biden has any ties tojoe biden or anything that was done on official business and you continuously see, and i think this was started by president trump, some of these republicans grasping at straws in conspiracy theories to try to distract from the real issue here, which are a lot of the investigations that president trump is tied up in now. i

think one of those is the doj has a special counsel for 6 january. we know mike pence did talk to them. so i think hopefully and hopefully yesterday was the first sign of justice in many of these investigations. we will continue to see that. and on foreign policy, mr trump was asked specifically whether he wants ukraine to win the war. this is what he said: this was the reaction. bryan, what you make of that, he said he would have the war ended in 24 he would have the war ended in 2a hours. i he would have the war ended in 24 hours. ~' ., 24 hours. i think he would, oddly enough. _ 24 hours. i think he would, oddly enough. he - 24 hours. i think he would, oddly enough. he has - 24 hours. i think he would, oddly enough. he has his l 24 hours. i think he would, - oddly enough. he has his flaws, very oddly enough. he has his flaws, verv nruch— oddly enough. he has his flaws, very much so, but i think he would — very much so, but i think he would resolve this war relatively fast. ukraine, you have — relatively fast. ukraine, you have to _ relatively fast. ukraine, you have to realise you have spent billions — have to realise you have spent billions of _ have to realise you have spent billions of dollars in propping up billions of dollars in propping up this— billions of dollars in propping up this military conflict in ukraine, _ up this military conflict in ukraine, similarto the ukraine, similar to the american ukraine, similarto the american sting and afghanistan in the _ american sting and afghanistan in the early 19805 against

in the early 19805 again5t russia, _ in the early 19805 again5t ru55ia, it is a time—honoured tradition— ru55ia, it is a time—honoured tradition of having them bogged down _ tradition of having them bogged down in — tradition of having them bogged down in ukraine, at the end of the day, — down in ukraine, at the end of the day, the resolution of afghanistan in the 19805 in russia, _ afghanistan in the 19805 in russia, we didn't go in and try ru55ia, we didn't go in and try to rebuild _ ru55ia, we didn't go in and try to rebuild the country, that becomes an issue where president trumpju5t becomes an issue where president trump just doesn't see the — president trump just doesn't see the value of rebuilding ukraine _ see the value of rebuilding ukraine considering how corrupt he feels — ukraine con5idering how corrupt he feels it— ukraine considering how corrupt he feels it is. and, by the way, _ he feels it is. and, by the way, the _ he feels it is. and, by the way, the vast majority of the american _ way, the vast majority of the american people feel ukraine is a very— american people feel ukraine is a very corrupt country. he is saving — a very corrupt country. he is saving it — a very corrupt country. he is saving it is — a very corrupt country. he is saying it is not a strategic asset _ saying it is not a strategic asset fir5t, saying it is not a strategic asset first, it not nato, it a55et first, it not nato, it hasn't _ a55et first, it not nato, it hasn't been allowed into the eu because — hasn't been allowed into the eu because of corruption, it has been — because of corruption, it has been allowed into nato becau5e been allowed into nato because of corruption, what are we really _ of corruption, what are we really doing here? we didn't give — really doing here? we didn't give -- _ really doing here? we didn't give —— care four years ago was six years— give —— care four years ago was six years ago when they took crimea, _ six years ago when they took crimea, while we invested in the donr _ crimea, while we invested in the dom be55 region? crimea, while we invested in the dom bess region?- crimea, while we invested in the dom bess region? how now, i want to get _ the dom bess region? how now, i want to get your _ the dom bess region? how now, i want to get your take _ the dom bess region? how now, i want to get your take on - the dom bess region? how now, i want to get your take on this - want to get your take on this and how people feel about the president's position on this war. ., .,, . ., . war. one of the most concerning thins we war. one of the most concerning things we just — war. one of the most concerning things we just heard _ war. one of the most concerning things we just heard about, - war. one of the most concerning things we just heard about, i - things we just heard about, i don't know if you pleaded, when pressed, if donald trump about if ukraine should win the war,

he couldn't answer that. that is frightening. i think that when we look at the difference between donald trump and, say, someone likejoe biden it is the difference between democracy and freedom and i think we should make it very clear that we support ukraine and we want ukraine to win the war. this is an issue that's going to trickle down and has trickle down to other republicans as well. if this is going to be the leader, the nominee for the republicans, the next presidential race, he should be held accountable for that and i think all americans to be very concerned not only about democracy here, but democracy abroad if donald trump is at the helm. bill trump is at the helm. all riaht, trump is at the helm. all right. that _ trump is at the helm. all right, that is _ trump is at the helm. all right, that is all - trump is at the helm. all right, that is all we have time for. hannah and bryan, thank you for your insides, breaking down the hour—long tunnel session, i'm sure we will have you back in a gram very soon. thank you and good evening to you. thank you and good evening to ou. ., ~' thank you and good evening to ou. ., ~ , ., thank you and good evening to yon-_ thank - thank you and good evening to you._ thank you. . after that town hall with former president trump, president biden, who recently announced his campaign for reelection, sent out his response on twitter. saying:

the controversial congressman george santos has pleaded not guilty to a 13—count federal indictment. the charges against him include money laundering and the theft of public funds. santos turned himself into authorities in new york earlier in the day. before we get into the details of the case, let's step back and look at who is george santos is. the 34—year—old republican was elected in last year's mid—term elections to new york's third congressional district. that's usually a safely democratic seat. he billed himself as "the full embodiment of the american dream," citing that his parents are brazilian immigrants. investigations revealed that santos had lied about various aspects of his background and career. mr santos has since admitted that he embellished his biography to appeal to his constituents. this is what he said outside court earlier. i am going to fight my battle. i'm going to deliver.

iam going i am going to fight the witch—hunt and i am going to take care of clearing my name and eye look forward to doing that. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. the release of chatgpt, an online tool that can answer questions in natural humanlike language, has sparked discussions about the future of artificial intelligence and its uses. i went to the university of bath to find out what sort of conversations lecturers are having. it will handle things like multiple choice questions, for example. it will handle those very well. in its current format chat gpt really struggles with any of the kind of higher order thinking that we require graduate students demonstrate. today, universities are being urged to teach students how to use chat gpt and other artificial intelligence tools. bath has actually already started using it in some assessments.

so one of the things that's great chatgpt it is the fact that it gets students started on things. it won't give them the answers, but it can give them ideas as to what to think, what to do, and how you're live with bbc news. the association of southeast asian nations says it is deeply concerned about the violence in myanmar and has called for an immediate end to hostilities. in a statement issued during its summit in indonesia, the regional body called for dialogue and safe passage for humanitarian relief. myanmar is expected to dominate discussions at this week's meeting. asean has been criticised for failing to mediate an end to the bloodshed since the 2021 military coup. 0ur southeast asia correspondent jonathan head is in bangkok following the latest. are we expecting any solution to come out of this summit regarding myanmar?- to come out of this summit regarding myanmar? sadly not. that is partly — regarding myanmar? sadly not. that is partly because - regarding myanmar? sadly not. that is partly because as - regarding myanmar? sadly not. that is partly because as yarn i that is partly because as yarn itself is ten countries that

includes myanmar and the myanmar seat is empty, they have not been allowed to come to the meetings because they are not ending the conflict that they promised to make steps to do two years ago. but it is an organisation that operates on consensus and the members do not really agree on how you deal with myanmar. the problem is that you have a ghastly civil war, some of the most rebel attacks on civilians are going on in the country is falling apart. at the military government that seized power is not showing any indication at all of softening its final talking to anyone so there is really for diplomacy and some countries are now saying maybe we should engage with them and others are saying no, they are beyond the pale and we need to beyond the pale and we need to be tougher. there is not a lot of agreement, unfortunately. it has been two years since the winter stage that coup that makes sense they state that coup and the situation has deteriorated.—

coup and the situation has deteriorated. ., ., ~ ., deteriorated. look, the global situation. _ deteriorated. look, the global situation, one _ deteriorated. look, the global situation, one a _ deteriorated. look, the global situation, one a myanmar's i situation, one a myanmar's biggest neighbours is china. china does not like what has happened in yeah but it is willing to deal with the generals and advance its own interests. it wants access to the indian ocean. so china and the indian ocean. so china and the united states do not agree. russia provides myanmar with weapons, you cannot ask russia to be concerned about human rights in myanmar in a fragmented world where superpowers cannot agree on big issues they are not coming to any consensus on how to put pressure on the generals in myanmar to ease up and as a result, think of the situation as being a bit like syria ten years ago. the country is falling apart and civilians are suffering terribly but there is simply no coherent idea in the rest of the world about how to improve it. rest of the world about how to improve it— rest of the world about how to imrove it. , improve it. given the backdrop, ruickl , improve it. given the backdrop, quickly, jonathan, _ improve it. given the backdrop, quickly, jonathan, what - improve it. given the backdrop, quickly, jonathan, what can - improve it. given the backdrop, quickly, jonathan, what can we | quickly, jonathan, what can we expect to come out of the summit? i expect to come out of the summit?— summit? i think asean is dwindling _ summit? i think asean is dwindling into _ summit? i think asean is l dwindling into irrelevance. there is a lot of handwringing

about it, it represents 600 and —— over 600 million people and south east asia is competed for both america and china for influence but when it comes to trying to sort out a problem on its own backyard it is incapable of doing it. thank you for your analysis. the controversial immigrantion policy known as title 42 is due to expire on thursday. it was introduced by former president donald trump during the covid pandemic to allow border authorities to swiftly expel migrants at us land borders. now with the title 42 expiring soon, the biden administration is ramping up deportation measures, a major pivot from his campaign positions. the new policy, first reported by cbs news, will disqualify migrants for asylum if they can't prove they previously requested protection in a third country. the rule will only allow migrants who made an appointment through an app to seek asylum, with the exception of unaccompaied children and migrants who have "exceptionally compelling circumstances."

for ineligible migrants who crossed the border, they have to go through a more detailed interview to avoid deportation or even a five—year banishment. migrants who repeatedly cross the border after being deported could face criminal prosecution, or evenjail time. this comes as more than 27,000 migrants are in border patrol custody, despite the agency only having capacity for several thousand. as we approach the expiration of title 42, i was able to speak with the democratic senator of colorado, senator michael bennett earlier today, let's have a look. senator, thank you forjoining us. title 42 is set to expire tomorrow. is it the right time to lift this policy? i don't think we should be lifting it now or for i have said that for months and months. i don't think the biden administration has had an adequate plan to assure the american people that our border is secure. and they have a right to make sure the border of the united states is secure.

in fairness to the administration, there is a set of issues that predates this administration. i think it would be really useful for democrats and republicans to come together to support the administration in their efforts to try and secure the border but is not the right time to lift the policy because we don't have an adequate plan. what should the biden administration do, what plan should be in place? a plan in place should be one that meets the needs of this country when it comes to immigration. in 2013, i was part of the gang of eight that read wrote the immigration bill that passed the senate with 68 votes. that bill had a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million people who are undocumented and the most progressive dreamer act ever written, it dealt with the serious issue that we are facing right now in not having enough agricultural workers in the united states of america and it also spent $40 billion on border security. the biden administration can't do all of that on their own.

they need congress to help them do that. i hope, instead of trying to score political points, we are actually going to come together to try to develop something that looks a lot like the plan we passed. you hope they will come together. is there room right now with the current senate for a compromise on immigration? it's very difficult. there are people who would rather try to pound the bruise on immigration than solve the issue. we need to solve this. if you look at the history of the united states, the last 150 years or so, every year we have had 3% gdp growth on average. in some years, its higher, some years, lower. and two—thirds of that has been organic. a third of that is immigration so unless we want to cut off the kind of economic growth with historically had, we need to fix our immigration problem. unless we want to have our farms and ranches move south of the border to mexico, we need to fix our immigration system. unless we are prepared to say

the people who came here, and know no other country, the dreamers, that they will be forever in an abyss. we need to fix it we need to fix it when it comes to actually securing the border that we have with mexico. we had to do a betterjob. i want to move onto the debt limit negotiations which are important as well. you said speaker mccarthy is holding the economy hostage. there was no progress made in the meeting congressional leaders had with president biden. there is going to have to be a compromise. what concessions do you think democrats, the biden administration should make when it comes to spending? what i would ask is for people, after this deal is cut, because there will be some deal cut. i think there will be. in the end, i think there will be. i hope people make a judgement about whether it was worth threatening the full faith and credt of the united states

over this deal. i hope people will ask whether it was worth having people's interest rates, their car payment rates, what they are paying for their student loans, the risk of all that going up. and you asked the question, in a very important way which is what should the concession be to the republican party on debt. there is the question i had. why a guy like kevin mccarthy who has supported tax cuts for the rich, who supported — which he didn't pay for — who blew up the deficit with george bush, every president from george bush to donald trump. now has standing to say that he is going to write the fiscal rules in this country. that's part of problem we have here. it's not about fiscal responsibility, it's about fiscal irresponsibility and the inability of kevin mccarthy and that wing of the republican party to understand the damage they are doing to working people. i was asking what concessions democrats might have to make.

what do you think this deal will have? i'm not sure. we should not be threatening to destroy the full faith and credit of the united states. we shouldn't be doing it. and i don't think we should capitulate about. i don't think we should give into that, especially when the people who are doing it are people who defict spend and deficit spend and deficit spend, just to give the richest people in america tax cuts. american people can use some help on what kevin mccarthy and his crew are suggesting is just going to make lives more difficult. artificial intelligence, you been talking about a lot. the capability of technologies like chatgpt has raised concerns among lawmakers and tech experts. what action should congress take? i don't think we should take an immediate action. i don't. one thing we shouldn't do is panic. there's going to be good and bad with artificial intelligence. two things we could do would be

to follow a recommendation that was made by eric schmidt to set up a task force so that the united states and the federal government can determine whether, as we adopt ai, we are doing it consistent with our civil liberties, consistent with civil rights, consistent with commitment to privacy. as important or more important than that, we need to create a new federal agency in washington like the fda, like the fcc, to regulate the biggest tech companies in america which have gone completely unregulated to this point and ai is going to be a big part of the discussion. last question on this. we spoke to the godfather of ai, jeffrey hinton, who spoke about the dangers, especially of authoritarian leaders using ai in the runway china developing this style technology even if it's regulated here. what think of that? i think we are in an epic competition with authoritarianism and there is, you know, we said, american

politicians and the democratic party for many years said the internet is going to democratise china. the internet is going to create a liberal society in china and of course, the opposite has happened. they've used the internet to secure their totalitarian state in ways george orwell could never have imagined and the stuff they've already used which you couldn't have imagined, like telecommunications equipment, they put in place to be able to see whether people notjust in beijing but in africa are having a bad day. when you put al on top of that, totalitarian, in human history, has never seen the kind of capability that xi jinping and putin are going to have at their disposal. it should be a real worry. 0ur concern in addition to worrying about that should be making sure that we are using ai in a way that is consistent with our fundamental values. thank you so much for the conversation.

thank you for watching our programme. don't forget to download the bbc app for all the latest news and analysis. stay with us. hello there. it's quite tricky trying to plan your day ahead with the weather at the moment. take, for example, wednesday morning, glorious start in st albans in hertfordshire. but by the middle of the afternoon there were plenty of shower clouds, and many skies overhead look like this, quite threatening at times. in fact, if we take a look at the radar from wednesday, there were quite a widespread bunch of showers that moved in from the west, and some of these turned quite heavy with rumbles of thunder mixed in there as well. in fact, we're not even halfway through the month of may and some counties across england have already seen above average rainfall. the exception, highland scotland, where there's not been that much rain so far this month. but low pressure still dominates the story

as we go through thursday. that means further showers to come. high pressure is trying to build in from the west and it will do so for the first half of the weekend at least. so, for thursday we'll start off with some low cloud around, but largely fine and dry. but it won't be long before the sunshine comes through and we start to see some warmth building and showers turn quite widespread into the afternoon once again. couple that with some low grey cloud temperatures in the far north and east of scotland, disappointing 10—13 degrees. highest values, perhaps around 17 or 18 degrees. dodge the showers. keep the sun. it'll feel relatively pleasant. now, high pressure is building in from the west. but to complicate the story, this little weather front here is going to produce more cloud coming in off the north sea with a cool northeasterly breeze. and we'll see some showers running down through lincolnshire, east anglia, further south and west through the day. so west will be best for the sunshine and the warmth. on friday, we could see temperatures peaking at around 18, possibly 19 degrees.

but where that low gray cloud continues to roll in off the north sea, only highs of around 14 celsius. the high pressure then moves in for the start of the weekend. not a bad start, but already frontal systems pushing in from the northwest will start to bring a change from sunday onwards. so saturday, not a bad day and feeling pleasantly warm. but as we go through into next week, the showers are set to return and it will be just a little bit cooler than it should be for this time of year.

voice-over: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour, straight after this programme. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. it's easy to forget more than a year into his costly invasion of ukraine, but vladimir putin had some staunch allies amongst europe's political elite — berlusconi in italy, schroeder in germany come to mind. so too does my guest today, karin kneissl, the former austrian foreign minister who famously danced with putin at her own wedding in 2018. now, she lives in exile, forced out of austria,